The Long War
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: "It's not going to be over. Not for a long time. If ever." Those had been Jan Templar's words in 2357. In 2390, his words remained eerily pertinent.


**The Long War**

_It's not going to be over. Not for a long time. If ever._

The words resurfaced in her head as she went over the footage for the thousandth time. A 3D holographic recreation of the lost minutes of Thomas Sinclair's life, as he delivered a speech in Vekta City. How evil the helghast were, how the ISA had given them too many chances, how they'd left their humanity behind, etc. The crowd was silent, but even now, she couldn't be sure if that was because they were enraptured by his words, or too put off by them. Of course, given what happened next, she knew exactly where most of the people of Vekta stood.

A gun fired. "Freeze," she said.

The hologram did so.

"Go back one point two seconds."

The hologram obliged.

"Replay footage, reduce frame rate by ninety-eight percent."

The hologram did so. A very slow 'boom' echoed throughout the holo-room, and what followed was a very slow bullet making its way through the holographic air. She gave a wry smile as she looked at Sinclair – at such slow footage, it looked like he was having a stroke. Which might not be too far from the truth, considering what the bullet would be doing to his head in a few moments.

"Freeze," she said.

The hologram did so. She held up her hands, both covered in gloves that contained micro-LEDs; light interacting with light, so to speak. She held them in a square like shape, focusing on the bullet in the middle of the hologram.

"Enlarge," she said.

The hologram zoomed in.

"More…more…too more…back…little more…" She frowned. "Enlarge by eight percent."

The image contorted on the bullet.

"Magnify."

**WARNING** – the words appeared before her, a bright shining yellow.

"Clarify."

**MAGNIFICATION WILL REDUCE DETAIL. PROCEED?**

_Shit_. She walked forward. To the untrained eye, one might have assumed that she was walking on air. She circled the bullet, quite content that it was, indeed, a bullet, but unable to draw any conclusions beyond that. Bullets were bullets. Cylindrical-shaped bullets had been around since the nineteenth century, and now, half a millennia later, their basic design hadn't changed.

**PROCEED?**

She sighed. "Proceed."

"You still on this?"

She closed her eyes and quickly counted to three. She didn't want to deal with this. There were a thousand things that existed in this universe which had been created for the sole purpose of making her life a misery, she didn't want to deal with issue 1001. Nevertheless, she glanced round at Major Tchaikovsky as he walked into the holo-room, before holding up her gloves to zoom the image out.

"Just going over all the angles." Holding up her gloves, letting the system do analysis on the bullet, she turned the image around to focus on its point of origin. The fifth story of a building that overlooked where Sinclair had given his speech.

"Come on ma'am. We know the higs are behind this."

She said nothing.

"Ma'am?"

"Magnify," she said. The image zoomed in.

"Ma'am!"

She looked round at the major. "Alright," she said. "Say it."

"Say what?"

"Say what you're here to say so I can get on with the job."

He looked around the holo-room, a scowl etched on his features. "This really a job?"

"I get paid for it, so, yes."

"And you're happy?" he asked.

Happy. The word rankled her. She'd put aside happiness over three decades ago.

"Are you listening Luger?"

Now it was her turn to scowl. "Shadow marshal, Major. However you run things in the VSA, rank's still important here."

"And yet you stopped climbing the rank ladder and let a man like Sinclair take your place." Tchaikovsky walked over to where Sinclair was, now a tiny figure on the edge of the holo-scape, given it was now focused on the building from where the bullet that ended his life was fired. "He looks so small here. Fitting, I suppose."

"This what you wanted to say, Major?"

He looked round at her. "What? That you would have been a better commander than Sinclair?"

She shrugged.

"Everyone 's said that ma'am, so I won't waste my breath."

"But you're going to waste it on something else, right?"

It was his turn to scowl again, but nevertheless, he persisted. "Sinclair's dead. Higs killed him."

And nevertheless, she resisted. "We don't know that," she murmured.

"You really think one of our own did the job?"

_No, _she reflected, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she looked at the display of **54% COMPLETE **hovering in the air, in regards to the bullet analysis.

"Like I said, Sinclair's dead," Tchaikovsky repeated. "Only question is as to whether it was from the Black Hand, another group, or from the goggle-heads' own government."

"Hera Visari's denied any responsibility."

"Well of course the bitch has denied responsibility," Tchaikovsky snapped. "What, you think she'd claim responsibility if she did do it?"

Again, the answer was in the negative. And again, Luger didn't say anything.

"Ma'am, may I say something?" the major asked.

"Go ahead Major, it hasn't stopped you so far."

"Ma'am, I can't help but wonder if…"

She looked away from the display of **57% **and looked at him. "_If_?" she repeated.

"If your…heart, is in this," the major said.

Luger folded her arms. "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, you were on this planet over thirty years ago when the higs invaded. You and the others who fought beside you pretty much saved all of Vekta."

Luger could see where this was going, but like Sinclair's assassination, hoped otherwise.

"And then, well, after what happened to Colonel Templar above Helghan, you-"

"Lots of people died in Operation Archangel Major," Luger murmured. She looked back at the hologram. "I mourn all of them."

"Bullshit."

She glanced back at him. "_Excuse me_?"

"You heard me. I'm calling bullshit. Everyone knows that you and Colonel Templar were an item at some point, and if you're still playing the bloody Snow Queen to admit it, then-"

Luger grabbed his arm and flipped the major on the ground. A small mercy, considering that as soon as she'd grabbed his arm, she'd been tempted to break it.

"The fuck?!"

And even more tempting now. She looked down on him. "Rumours are for enlisted men, Major. You want to prove them wrong?"

"The hell is wrong with you?!"

"Then do it on your own time." She let him go and took a few steps back. Asking the same question herself.

_It's not going to be over. Not for a long time. If ever._

Again, Jan's words echoed in her head. She'd started by saying "when this is over," and he'd made it clear that the war with the helghast wasn't going to end anytime soon. Over thirty years later, she reflected on three things. First was that in one way he'd been wrong – the Second Extrasolar War had ended in less than half a decade. Second was that in one way he'd been right – the helghast still existed, they were still a threat, and the assassination of X Sinclair might have set the tinderbox alight. The third was that she couldn't even remember what she'd been going to say about things being over. She had some ideas, but after the destruction of the _New Sun_, it didn't matter.

She looked back at the hologram. Analysis as at **68% COMPLETION**

"You know I could launch a complaint about assault," Tchaikovsky said.

She didn't look at him, but she could hear him get to his feet. "You do that Major. In the meantime, I'm going to-"

"Oh for God's sake, enough."

The hologram deactivated, revealing a black room with white lines over its floors and walls. The image of **69% COMPLETION **disappeared. So slowly, ever so slowly, Luger turned to look at him., his hand moving away from a red button on the wall.

"You want to complain about assault?" she murmured. "Because you're tempting me to add to the list of chances."

"This is enough," he said. "You want to dream about peace? Fine. You want to wish that we could live in a world of puppies and rainbows? Fine. But this is war. Whether Lady Visari ordered the hit or not, Sinclair's dead, and now, we're at war with the helghast in all but name. So get your shit together, and start acting like a soldier."

Luger smiled darkly. "Someone else said that to me once," she murmured. "You know what happened to him?"

Tchaikovsky said nothing.

"Well?"

"I always thought you'd have made a better shadow general than Sinclair," he murmured. "Was I wrong?"

Luger said nothing.

"Well?"

She took a breath. "Anything else, Major?"

"Site Kappa Nine. You're due there at 0900 tomorrow." He took a data chip out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "You'll find the details of the ops in there."

"Ops?"

"Recon, sabotage, every eventuality for when the shit hits the fan. Which it will, by the way, no matter how long you spend time in this room looking for a way out."

She smirked. "You know if you hadn't deleted the analysis, I could have been done by now?"

"And if you'd analysed the bullet and paired it to a weapon, what would it have proven?" he asked. "You think the higs can't get their hands on ISA guns?"

She didn't say anything. She knew what the answer was. They both did.

"0900," he said. "Be there."

He gave a salute. She'd give him that. But she didn't give him the dignity of watching him leave, as she turned away to face the darkness of the walls around her. Walls ever closing in.

_They'll send more forces, won't they? _

The words still echoed in her head.

_The helghast, I mean._

Taunting her.

_Yeah. They will._

Tormenting her.

_And we'll be there to meet them._

Reminding her of words said, and actions taken. Of what she'd done. Of what she had yet to do.

And reminding her, after all these years, how alone she actually was.

* * *

_A/N_

_There's a lot I could say about how Hakha and Luger were effectively written out of the series post-_Liberation_, but that's another issue. That said, I've kind of wondered - am I the only one thinking that Sinclair's role in _Shadow Fall _might have been better taken by Luger? Granted, only watched a playthrough, and I get the angle - Lucas gets a father figure with Sinclair, Echo has a literal mother in Hera, cue theme of prejudices of the older generation informing the prejudices of the next generation, as a father and mother duke it out. On the other hand, one could argue that bringing back a pre-established character might have added more weight, but, well, whatever. Drabbled this up._


End file.
